title: Correlations among adiposity measures in school-aged children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Given that it is not feasible to use dual x-ray absorptiometry (DXA) or other reference methods to measure adiposity in all pediatric clinical and research settings, it is important to identify reasonable alternatives. Therefore, we sought to determine the extent to which other adiposity measures were correlated with DXA fat mass in school-aged children.
  
  
  METHODS
  In 1110 children aged 6.5-10.9 years in the pre-birth cohort Project Viva, we calculated Spearman correlation coefficients between DXA (n=875) and other adiposity measures including body mass index (BMI), skinfold thickness, circumferences, and bioimpedance. We also computed correlations between lean body mass measures.
  
  
  RESULTS
  50.0% of the children were female and 36.5% were non-white. Mean (SD) BMI was 17.2 (3.1) and total fat mass by DXA was 7.5 (3.9) kg. DXA total fat mass was highly correlated with BMI (r(s)=0.83), bioimpedance total fat (r(s)=0.87), and sum of skinfolds (r(s)=0.90), and DXA trunk fat was highly correlated with waist circumference (r(s)=0.79). Correlations of BMI with other adiposity indices were high, e.g., with waist circumference (r(s)=0.86) and sum of subscapular plus triceps skinfolds (r(s)=0.79). DXA fat-free mass and bioimpedance fat-free mass were highly correlated (r(s)=0.94).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In school-aged children, BMI, sum of skinfolds, and other adiposity measures were strongly correlated with DXA fat mass. Although these measurement methods have limitations, BMI and skinfolds are adequate surrogate measures of relative adiposity in children when DXA is not practical.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. caroline.boeke@mail.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Caroline E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Boeke
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Oken
authors.forename: Ken P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kleinman
authors.forename: Sheryl L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rifas-Shiman
authors.forename: Elsie M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Taveras
authors.forename: Matthew W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Gillman
mesh_terms: D015502:Absorptiometry, Photon; D050154:Adiposity; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017097:Electric Impedance; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis; D015588:Observer Variation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D012885:Skinfold Thickness; D055105:Waist Circumference; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio